Frustules of Rhoicosphenia are clavate in valve view and heterovalvar. In girdle view, valves are flexed, and curved. As a result of the asymmetry to the transverse axis, the valve face is curved. One valve has a complete raphe with two distinct raphe branches. The other valve has a very small raphe branch on the footpole. Pseudosepta are present and distinct at both poles. In contrast with species in Gomphonema, valves lack apical pore fields.

Cells grow on short stalks in streams and wave zones of lakes. Rhoicosphenia is common in western North America. A single extant freshwater species is found in North America,R. abbreviata (an earlier homonym of R. curvata). Morphology has been documented by Mann (1982a, 1982b). A number of species appear to be present in North America, currently included within R. abbreviata.

Cite This Page: Spaulding, S., and Edlund, M. (2008). Rhoicosphenia. In Diatoms of the United States. Retrieved March 03, 2015, from http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/genus/Rhoicosphenia